I have seen Colossians 2:13-17 used to support a lot of different ideas. Protestants use it to say the feast days dont matter anymore because the debt is paid. Seventh Day Adventists use it to say the ceremonial law was done away with on the cross. And those like me leaning toward Messianic Judaism say it encourages us to keep them. Im not an expert on Greek, but I try to read material from people that are. The best translation I have found for these verses is this: And although you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he quickened [you] together with himself, forgiving us all the trespasses, blotting out the handwriting with the decrees which was against us, which was an adversary to us, and he removed it from the midst, nailing it to the cross. Having spoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them on it. Therefore, do not let any man judge you in eating or in drinking, or in part of a feast, New Moon, or Sabbath (which are a shadow of the coming things), but the body of Christ. For a detailed explanation of this, see: lionlove.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/exegesis-colossians-ii-13-17.pdf Its dense and I had to read it several times, but it makes sense. These verses become one of the strongest cases we have in favor of keeping the feasts. And it makes sense in the greater context of Colossians too, as a few times Paul says what we do to ourselves we do to Christ: Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. (Col 1:24) Hes saying his sufferings are connected to Christs sufferings. But we shouldnt be too hard on ourselves without reason: Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. (Col 2:18-19) And that is why we eat, and drink, and celebrate the feasts. We strengthen the body of Christ, and they are a shadow of the coming things.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:32:08 +0000
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